Maternal vitamin A intake varies but its impact on offspring metabolic health is unknown. Here we found that maternal vitamin A or retinoic acid (RA) administration expanded PDGFRα+ adipose progenitor population in progeny, accompanied by increased blood vessel density and enhanced brown-like (beige) phenotype in adipose tissue, protecting offspring from obesity. Blockage of retinoic acid signa...

OBJECTIVES To better understand the individual and community factors and perceptions that influence women's health care-seeking behaviors during pregnancy in order to increase women's utilization of maternal health services. METHODS This study investigates the logistical and sociocultural barriers influencing women's utilization of maternal health services through 37 semi-structured in-depth ...

background and aim: maternal concept is part of the feminine gender role. the important part of the maternal concept is the unique relationship experience between mother and child that begins with  maternal-fetal attachment(mfa) during pregnancy. the aim of this study is predict the mfa according to gender role in pregnant women in shiraz city. methods:this descriptive correlational study was c...

This study aimed to determine the associations between socio-demographic factors, maternal health knowledge and husband domestic support and last pregnancy problems among reproductive age women (aged 15-49 years) in Bahuni, Morang, Nepal. Data were collected during February and March 2010 from 144 women who had at least one child <5 years old. The women completed a questionnaire designed to eli...

BACKGROUND In developing countries especially in Africa, reproductive ill health have been a great concern to many stakeholders as maternal mortality and morbidity are very high compared to developed world. Also reproductive health knowledge and access to quality of care maternal health services in Africa are poor with significant health consequences. Appropriate reproductive health knowledge, ...

BACKGROUND Rwanda has achieved great improvements in several key health indicators, including maternal mortality and other health outcomes. This raises the question: what has made this possible, and what makes Rwanda so unique? METHODS We describe the results of a web-based survey among district health managers in Rwanda who gave their personal opinions on the factors that drive performance i...

INTRODUCTION The Government of Gujarat has for the past couple of decades continuously initiated several interventions to improve access to care for pregnant and delivering women within the state. Data from the last District Family Heath survey in Gujarat in 2007-2008 show that 56.4% of women had institutional deliveries and 71.5% had at least one antenatal check-up, indicating that challenges ...

BACKGROUND Pakistan is one of the six countries estimated to contribute to over half of all maternal deaths worldwide. To address its high maternal mortality rate, in particular the inequities in access to maternal health care services, the government of Pakistan created a new cadre of community-based midwives (CMW). A key expectation is that the CMWs will improve access to skilled antenatal an...

INTRODUCTION Ethiopia introduced national Maternal Death Surveillance and Response (MDSR) in 2013 and is among the first sub-Saharan African countries to capture data on facility-based and community-based maternal deaths. We interviewed frontline MDSR implementers about their experiences of the first 2 years of MDSR, including perceptions of its introduction and outcomes for health services. ...